When Life Gives You Lemons

Chapter 3- Lightning McQueen, Taking the World by Storm

Chapter 3- Lightning McQueen, Taking the World By Storm!

"Hi! I'm back!" Fudge greeted Luigi, Guido, Sarge and Fillmore when she sat down at the bar inside the restaurant. Guido was behind the counter, gathering ingredients to make drinks for the others.

All four of them greeted her warmly and Luigi kissed her.

"Where have you been?" Luigi wanted to know.

Fudge just smiled. "Working."

"What work?" Sarge quizzed her.

"It's a secret."

He gave a small smile. "Right..."

Meanwhile, Guido had just finished mixing the drinks for the other three vehicles and was passing them out along with straws.

"Thanks, man!" Fillmore called.

"Grazie, Guido!" Luigi took a sip.

"(Fudge, I will find some soda or something for you to drink)", Guido offered.

The eleven-year-old nodded. "Grazie."

But before he could move, Mater came zooming in.

"How's it going?" Fudge questioned, referring to his "job" as a waiter.

"I gotta find out McQueen's usual!" he replied breathlessly.

Fudge shrugged. "Oh, well, I don't know what it is."

"Guido!" Mater shouted. "What's McQueen's usual?!"

"(How should I know?)" Guido responded in Italian.

However, Mater didn't understand, responding with, "Perfect! Give me two of them!"

Fudge, who spoke Italian fluently, was about to correct him when Sarge barked at the tow truck, "Quiet! My program's on!"

Fudge glanced up to see The Mel Dorado Show on TV and she let everyone know exactly what she thought of it.

"Bor-ring!" she sang, for which she was rewarded with a dirty look from Sarge.

The guest appearing on this show was a green Range Rover, who Mel introduced as Sir Miles Axlerod, an oil billionaire, who had recently sold his oil fortune and devoted his life to creating the alternative fuel of the future.

"This is so boring!" Fudge declared from her spot between Luigi and Mater.

"Fudge!" Sarge scolded her. "I don't care how boring you think this is! I am trying to listen!"

"Now, he claims to have done it", Mel Dorado explained, "with his Allinol. And to show the world what his new super fuel can do, he's created a racing competition like no other, inviting the greatest champions from around the globe to battle in the first-ever World Grand Prix."

Now, Fudge was interested. With the amount of time she'd spent around her Ferrari-fanatic dads and Lightning and Doc, an interest in racing was pretty much inevitable for her.

However, Sir Miles Axlerod was mainly talking about the alternative fuel, which was still brain-numbingly boring to Fudge. Until they jumped live to Rome, Italy ("Been there, been there!" Fudge had sung proudly) to interview one of the competitors in the World Grand Prix, Francesco Bernoulli. Fudge had seen him on TV before, but didn't think much of him. In fact, from what she'd seen, he was pretty full of himself and kind of a jerk.

He proved it with his first words of the interview, which were, "It is an honour, Signore Dorado. For you."

"Miles, why not invite Lightning McQueen?" Mel suggested.